High school students interested in scholarships to study abroad or hosting students from overseas can start researching what is available now at Youth for Understanding’s website below:
Reposted by Ruth Paget
-author Eating Soup with Chopsticks, Marrying France, and Europe’s Lessons written during overseas duty in Germany + 5 other Kindle books
The Festa Italia 2026 will be held from September 11 - 13, 2026 in Monterey, California.
The festival features food, entertainment, and bocce ball.
A link to the festival website follows (the headline is cut off on phones, but everything else fits):
https://festaitaliamonterey.org/
Reposted by Ruth Paget
-author Eating Soup with Chopsticks, Marrying France, and Europe’s Lessons written during overseas duty in Germany + 5 other Kindle books
Oceanside Terrace Meal at the C Restaurant, part of the IHG Hotel Group, on Cannery Row in Monterey, California by Ruth Paget
My husband Laurent, our daughter Florence Paget, and I went out for a festive fall meal at the C Restaurant on Cannery Row in Monterey, California.
We sat on the oceanside outdoor terrace where all seats are good ones, if you like a cool ocean breeze. (Heaters are available.) We ate a hearty 4-course meal and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves by the bay.
Laurent and Florence began their meal with generous bowls of clam chowder. I ordered my favorite deep-fried calamari that was fried with green beans that resembled tempura and flavored with deep-fried orange slices to give this dish a somewhat sweet flavor. I loved the chipotle-aioli garlic mayonnaise that was pungent and spicy at the same time.
Laurent and Florence ate superlative prawn and Dungeness crab with thick-ribboned pappardelle pasta as their main dish.
I ordered the white corn ravioli stuffed with homemade ricotta cheese that sat on a bed of sautéed Bloomsdale spinach. The ravioli was topped with sautéed chanterelle mushrooms, heirloom cherry tomatoes, and tarragon-butter. That was delicious. I enjoyed every bite of it. (Laurent also let me try some of the superlative seafood pasta, too.)
For our third course, we ordered the Farmhouse Cheese Platter that came with:
-orange mimolette cheese from France
-creamy Brillat Savarin from France
-Iberico Curado from Spain, which resembles manchego
-dried fruit chutney – super sweet
-brown bread crostini baked with dates and chestnuts
Florence ordered the butter-sautéed brioche with ice cream as dessert to share. That was delicious as well.
I love living in a region where I can eat meals like this about 30 minutes sway from my home in Salinas, California.
Thank you Monterey, California for the lovely fall 2026 meal.
Note: When Laurent and I lived in Paris, we would go to oceanside restaurants in Deauville and Honfleur to eat. We would also go Laurent’s paternal grandmother’s house in Sables-d’Olonne on the Atlantic Coast and do the same thing. (All good memories that involved eating lots of raw oysters with sancerre wine.)
Bon Appetit!
By Ruth Paget
-author Eating Soup with Chopsticks, Marrying France, and Europe’s Lessons written during overseas duty in Germany + 5 other Kindle books
I read a McKinsey Insights article entitled “How do we Reach Global Prosperity by 2021?” Published on August 5, 2026.
This article defines Switzerland’s average personal income of $80,000 as the prosperity goal for all adults by 2100.
McKinsey did not provide a link to copy, but you can find this article, if you have the McKinsey Insights app.
What is helpful in this article is setting the dollar amount goal instead of a vague term like better income, which can be a very different amount for different people.
By Ruth Paget
-author Eating Soup with Chopsticks, Marrying France, and Europe’s Lessons written during overseas duty in Germany + 5 other Kindle books
Three important take-aways from the 2025 World Health Organization’s Report on Global Food Insecurity via include:
1-On a global scale, food insecurity deceased
2-Rural areas experience more food insecurity
3-The cost of a healthy meal has increased globally
The report follows at the link below:
Reposted by Ruth Paget
-author Eating Soup with Chopsticks, Marrying France, and Europe’s Lessons written during overseas duty in Germany + 5 other Kindle books
Relatively Low-Cost Fall Vegetable Sheet Pan Bake by Ruth Paget
Fall vegetables are easy to cook, if you bake them on a sheet pan. They are a great personal chef item.
I often made fall vegetables this way when I lived in Wisconsin outside Madison. I would eat them with cheddar cheese on the side and a glass of low-sugar cranberry juice.
I thought I had a pretty good lacto-ovo vegetarian meal this way. There was calcium and protein in the cheese, vitamin C in the cranberry juice, and many nutrients in the vegetables. Iron was the one nutrient missing in large quantities in this meal, so I did eat chicken and beef at other meals with the express purpose of obtaining some iron.
The cost of this meal was very low in Wisconsin. I could take one or two of each vegetable and still get a pretty nice meal together.
The following is very loose recipe whose quantities can change depending on what is available at the supermarket or market:
Ingredients:
-1 cup olive oil
-crushed garlic and/or shallots
-potatoes cut into fourths
-carrots cut into fourths
-turnips cut into fourths
-rutabagas cut into fourths
-celery cut into two-inch sections
-red onions cut into fourths
-sea salt
-thyme or herbes de Provence
Steps:
1-Place olive oil and crushed garlic and/or shallots in a large bowl.
2-Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil.
3-Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
4-Add the chopped vegetables and turn them with a spoon to thoroughly coat them in olive oil and garlic.
5-Place the vegetables on the sheet pan and place them in the oven. Bake the vegetables for ½ hour. Take the vegetables out and place them on a counter. Close the oven door to retain heat. Starting at a top-left edge, begin to methodically turn over every vegetable on an opposite side.
6-Place the vegetables back in the oven and cook for another ½ hour from the time you place them back in the oven.
7-Poke the vegetables with a fork to test for doneness. Carrots, turnips, and rutabagas take the longest to cook. If you want very tender vegetables, cook the vegetables another 15 minutes or finish them up in the microwave.
8-Season with sea salt and thyme leaves or herbes de Provence.
Note: This blog is also a follow-up to my Wisconsin 2026 Vacation series of blogs.
Bon Appétit!
By Ruth Paget
-author Eating Soup with Chopsticks, Marrying France, and Europe’s Lessons written during overseas duty in Germany + 5 other Kindle books
-developer of the Novgorod and Bento War Games + 8 Classical Western Civilization War Games
-developer of food and beverage knowledge games
-creator of online exhibits about Dan Miguel Arcangel Mission, French baguette making,and the Carmel Valley History Center
-writer of 1900+ Central Coadt California lifestyle blogs
-family genealogist
-developer of 9 music theory games